Student Resources

• Anticipate: Photo Comparison Handout
• Engage: Analyzing Primary Sources Handout
• Irma Grese and Self-Deception Narrative 

Teacher Resources

• Analysis Questions 
• Virtue in Action  
• Journal Activity
• Sources for Further Reading  
• Virtue Across the Curriculum  

• Self-Deception: Acting on a belief that a false idea or situation is true. Being deluded or deceived by ideas that endanger the humanity of others and movements that are unjust.
• Martial: warlike 
• Paramilitary: a group that is organized to act as a military, but is not part of a country’s official armed forces. 
• Fuhrer: German word for “leader” that is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler.
• Cadre: a group specially trained for a purpose
• Wanton: careless 

Procedures 

• The following lesson asks students to consider the vice of self-deception and how it can cause us to endanger ourselves and others. As humans, we crave community and recognition within the group we belong. However, when we act on a belief that a false idea or situation is true, it can lead to unjust situations. Through activities, storytelling, and reflection, students will understand how to recognize self-deception and combat it with integrity.  
• Grese was a young person who was swept up by Nazi ideology. She allowed that ideology to deceive her into thinking injustice was permissible, Jews were a dangerous threat to society, and violence and extermination were normalized. Grese is an example of how self-deception can lead a person to get caught up in conformity to an ideology rather than thinking for oneself about right and wrong.  
• Students will engage with the story of Irma Grese as they consider the question: Why is self-deception destructive to a healthy civil society? 
• The main activity in this lesson requires students to read and analyze a narrative that explores Irma Grese. Students may work individually, in pairs, or small groups as best fits your classroom. The analysis questions provided can be used to help students comprehend and think critically about the content. As the teacher, you can decide which questions best fit your students’ needs and time restraints.    
• Lastly, the lesson includes sources used in this lesson for further reading and suggestions for cross-curricular connections.

Anticipate

• Scaffolding Note: You may use this activity to prepare your students and introduce the vocabulary and ideas discussed in this lesson.  
• Essential Vocabulary:
  • Self-deception: Acting on a belief that a false idea or situation is true. Being deluded or deceived by ideas that endanger the humanity of others and movements that are unjust. 
• Distribute the Anticipate: Photo Comparison Handout. 
• Discuss with students how primary sources are important to the Holocaust for several reasons. Primary sources help preserve the memory of this terrible crime, so that it never happens again. Additionally, primary sources help us to remember the victims of the genocide. Since there are those who deny that the Holocaust happened or question its scope, primary sources provide stark and comprehensive evidence that the Holocaust happened. Finally, primary sources like this one of the three women in the League of German Women can help start to explain how the people could have deceived themselves into thinking that it was morally acceptable to kill Jews.  
• Introduce the vocabulary word self-deception. Ask students if they can connect this term to the image of the League of German Women.  

Engage

• Transition to Engage: Analyzing Primary Source Handout. Use the primary source with your students to understand the condition of the concentration camps. Note that this source contains descriptions of graphic images.  
• Ask students to think back to the original images they viewed of the League of German Women. Ask them, Do they think these women participated in the atrocities of the Holocaust? How could people deceive themselves into thinking such actions were permissible?  

Explore

• Transition to the Irma Grese and Self-Deception Narrative. Students will learn and analyze the story of Irma Grese to understand how someone can be deceived to act against virtue.  
• Scaffolding Note: It may be helpful to instruct students to do a close reading of the text. Close reading asks students to read and re-read a text purposefully to ensure students understand and make connections. For more detailed instructions on how to use close reading in your classroom, use these directions. Additional reading strategies are provided for other options that may meet your students’ needs. 
• Essential Vocabulary: 
  • Martial: warlike 
  • Paramilitary: a group that is organized to act as a military, but is not part of a country’s official armed forces. 
  • Fuhrer: German word for “leader” that is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler.
  • Cadre: extremely cruel 
  • Wanton: careless 
• Transition to the analysis questions. Have students work individually, with partners, or as a whole class to answer the questions. 
• Scaffolding Note: If there are questions that are not necessary to your students’ learning or time restraints, then you can remove those questions.  
• Analysis Questions 
  • Why do you think Irma was deceived by Nazi ideology?  
  • Why was the ideology of Nazism so deceptive to the German people?  
  • What experiences in Irma’s life may have influenced her views about Nazi ideology?  
  • To what extent are individuals responsible for their deeds while participating in a collective action?  
  • What do Irma Grese’s actions say about her views regarding the humanity of the individuals she was guarding?  
  • How did tenants of Nazi ideology corrupt Irma’s view of humanity?  
  • Do you think that Irma believed what she was doing was right or was she deceiving herself in order to find a sense of purpose and belonging? Does this change her level of moral culpability? If so, How?  
  • Because she joined the League of German Women at a young age, was she responsible for the person who she grew to be, or was she merely a product of indoctrination?  
  • If she was merely a product of indoctrination, does this reduce her level of moral culpability or is a person always responsible for his or her actions as an adult?  
  • Considering her level of moral culpability, are any of her actions or choices forgivable? Explain.  
  • Should she be looked at as a truly horrific person who is responsible for deplorable acts or as a tragic figure who was indoctrinated at a young age into a dangerous and evil ideology? Can she be both of these things at the same time?  
  • What does it say about Irma that she denied or refused to admit to the charges that were arraigned against her?  
  • In light of this story, how should we examine the actions of those who joined the Hitler Youth and the League of German Women? Are they all morally culpable for their actions? Does indoctrination excuse or mitigate their actions?  

Assess & Reflect

Virtue in Action  

• Scaffolding Note: You may use this activity to help your students reflect on and apply the content they learned about Irma Grese and self-deception. 
• The following quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. Niemöller was initially a supporter of the Nazi party, but eventually became an outspoken critic of their policies. For speaking out against the Nazis, he spent eight years as a political prisoner. 
  • First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

• Scaffolding Note: Ask students to answer the following question in their journals, with partners, or as a class.  
  • How does this quote speak to the vice of self-deception? 
• Ask students to write a list or make a plan on how they can think critically to help prevent themselves from being deceived by harmful ideas.  You may use the following questions to help them brainstorm.  
  • How can you personally speak out against an issue that you feel is wrong? What methods might you use? What risks would you have to take?  

AND/OR

Self-Deception Journal Activity   

• Have students self-reflect and answer the following question in their journal: 
  • How does a person come to be deceived by an evil or unjust idea? What are important things to keep in mind when reading about an idea? How is self-interest and self- delusion? What can one do to keep themselves grounded? How can a diversity of opinions in a civil society help prevent deception? 

 

Extend

Sources & Further Reading  

• Explore the following list for additional sources and further reading on Irma Grese. 
  • Bergen, Doris L. War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.  
  • Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.  
  • Gellately, Robert. Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.  
  • Johnson, Eric. Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans. New York: Basic Books, 1999.  
  • Wistrich, Robert S. Hitler and the Holocaust. New York: Modern Library, 2001.  

Virtue Across the Curriculum  

• Below are corresponding literature suggestions to help you teach about self-deception across the curriculum. Sample prompts are provided for the key corresponding works. For the other suggested works, or others that are already part of your curriculum, create your own similar prompts.    
  • The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank  
    • To what extent is self-deception evident in the society Anne lives in? How do the actions of Miep Gies counteract this? 

• • Schindler’s List directed by Stevem Spielberg (1993) 
    • Does Oskar Shindler fall victim to self-deception? Explain. Note that this film is rated R for graphic depictions of Nazi atrocities.  

• • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. 
    • Which character in the novel is guilty of self-deception? Explain. Note that the 2008 film of the same name is rated PG-13

• OTHER WORKS
  • Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi  
  • Night by Elie Wiesel